Wednesday, 10 April 2013

Coombe Hill and the River Thames-Information About the Area

Image: freedigitalphotos

When World War II was going on, many areas of the world were affected, but none as much as London, England. Some areas of London were hit harder than others, especially the areas around the famous Thames River. To cripple London, the targets of enemy bombs were the areas of the Thames River and its docks.

The area with the heaviest bombing, the docks that were around the Thames River were the targets of enemy bombing during World War II. The bombing began during 1939, and went on for the next two years, finally ending in 1941. After the bombing finally came to an end, the docks were destroyed and the whole area was in terrible condition.

It is estimated that around 900 missiles, plus countless incendiary bombs fell on the port of Thames. There were many riverside properties that were badly damaged or destroyed completely during World War II. Coombe Hill is an area that survived the bombing.

The area known as Coombe Hill is an area of London known as the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames. The Coombe Hill area is known to be a very upscale neighbourhood. Many people choose Coombe Hill as the place they want to live because of its closeness to the Thames River.

What makes Coombe Hill so ritzy is the fact that it is close to the Coombe Wood Golf Course. The streets that are part of Coombe Hill are called Greenwood Park and Devey Close. The property value of the area of Coombe Hill is set at millions of GB pounds.

Once World War II was over, the Port of London had to be completely rebuilt. Now that the war was over, it was time for the healing to begin. After the many years of repair work, the dock finally reopened, and in 1964, the height was reached with 61 tonnes being traded through the port.

Though trading was topping all kinds of huge amounts, by the late 1960's the trade began to go down because of the introduction of containerisation. The reason why containerization hit the dock so hard was the fact that the containers could hold massive amounts of cargo. Because the containers could carry such large amounts, the old fashioned way of doing things was becoming obsolete.

The use of the Port of London and its docks continued to decline all throughout the 1970's and 1980's. Finally by 1981, things had reached the point of where something had to be done and the London Docklands Development Corporation had the idea to fix the docks and restore them to their former glory. The London Docklands Development Corporation was formed, and the goal was to perform reconstruction on the docks. By 1983, the Thames Barrier in Woolwich was finished, and the structure contained 10 gates that span across the Thames. This structure is now one of the most recognizable in London, and its construction helped save the Port of London from ruin.